


The Ferret Gets A Medal

by Small_Hobbit



Series: Twelve Days of Christmas plus One [10]
Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-01 11:17:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17243279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: In which Holmes is very smart, Watson is very BAMFy and the Ferret is his usual heroic self





	The Ferret Gets A Medal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whocares](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whocares/gifts).



“What do you make of this?” Holmes asked me one morning as we were eating breakfast.  He passed over the newspaper, on which he had circled four consecutive items in the personal column.

I looked at them but could discern nothing of great interest:

Bull mastiff pups for sale. Apply Box 7

You strode into my heart when you jumped onto the No 30 bus.

My darling, where shall we meet tomorrow?

What the best houses all use: Knight’s silver polish.

 

“I’m sorry, Holmes, they tell me nothing,” I said.

“I believe that is the intention,” he replied with a chuckle.  “However, if you read the first word from the first item, the second from the second and so on, you will find it says ‘Bulstrode Warehouses’.  And, if I am not mistaken, ‘7.30 tomorrow night’.”

“Amazing,” I said.  “Does this tie in with the case you and Lestrade have been working on?”

“It is my belief that it does.  I think it would be a good idea for Captain Basil to make some enquiries on the dock side of the warehouses.  At the same time, Watson, would you be able to look at access from the road side?  If you take the Ferret with you, he can check the windows and doors.  We should both be back by lunch time and I shall ask Lestrade to call round for two o’clock.”

Holmes hurried into his own room and departed shortly afterwards in the guise of Captain Basil.  I finished my breakfast and then the Ferret and I set off together.

I walked along the road which ran past the warehouses occasionally stopping to jot something in my notebook.  On one occasion a passer-by seemed slightly curious, so I resorted to words commonly used by doctors including saying ‘probably contagious’, and the man hurriedly departed.  I continued further up the road, and then slowly walked back down, the Ferret rejoining me when I waited at the omnibus stop.

We arrived back to be greeted by Mrs Hudson who said, “At last, doctor, finally someone is back for lunch.”

“What!” I exclaimed.  “Holmes is not back either?”

“Why, no!”

“In which case, Mrs Hudson, I am afraid you will have to hold lunch for now.”

She tutted loudly, but I ignored her and ran back down the stairs.  Holmes should have been back before me, and if he wasn’t that did not bode well.  I was half way down the road when I became aware of chittering from my coat pocket.

“What’s the matter?” I muttered.

“We’re missing lunch,” the Ferret grumbled.

“And Holmes is in danger.  This gang is not to be trifled with.”

“Don’t talk of trifle!”

I rummaged in my other coat pocket and found what appeared to be the remains of a sausage roll.  I had no idea how long it had been there, but the Ferret isn’t fussy, so I gave it to him.

We reached the docks as quickly as I could get there without drawing attention to myself.  Once inside I made my way past all the men who were working there as they moved cargo, heaved ropes and shouted at each other.  Occasionally I was recognised, for I had treated some of the men, but no-one questioned my presence, assuming that I was on some form of medical business.

We reached the back of Bulstrode Warehouses, and cautiously I slipped down the steps.  From inside I could hear voices.

“Think you’re so clever, Captain Basil,” one of the voices said, “snooping around, asking questions.  ‘Oping to get a reward for giving information to the Old Bill?”

I crept closer and the Ferret hopped out of my pocket and slid through the narrow gap in the doorway.

“’Ere, I just saw something move,” a second voice said.

“Nah, it was just a rat, like wot we’ve got ‘ere.”  That was a third voice.

I was thinking the Ferret wouldn’t be pleased at the description when I heard his distinctive ‘eek’, which meant three men present in the room with Holmes.

“Just take care of him,” the third voice ordered, “and then we can get back to work.”

The odds weren’t good, but there wasn’t time to go for help.  I burst through the door and hit the first man, who had his back to me, as hard as I could with my stick.  At the same time, Holmes managed to swing a leg at the second man, knocking him off balance and I flung myself at him, using my weight to keep him down.

The third man uttered a yell of frustration as he too crashed to the floor, the Ferret having wound a stout piece of rope around his ankles.

Although the man I was lying on was winded I was dubious about getting off him, but the Ferret brought the rope to me, and I was able to tie the man’s hands behind his back. 

Meanwhile the Ferret’s captive had sat up and was trying to grab the Ferret, who ran to and fro just out of his reach.  The man was so mesmerised by this performance he failed to notice I had moved behind him and, making a loop with the rope, I was able to pinion his arms to the side of his body.

With the three men tied up I was able to release Holmes from the chair to which he had been tied.  Hurriedly we left the warehouse before anyone could come looking for the men.  Holmes directed me through a passageway and we came out on the main road.

“Come, Watson, we must hurry.  I must let Lestrade know what I have now learnt.  Quick, I can see an omnibus coming.  It will take us to St Paul’s and from there we can take a cab to Baker Street.”

We arrived home to find Lestrade about to leave.  He turned round on seeing us, and the three of us ascended to our rooms.

Mrs Hudson heard us on the stairs and said, “Do you want your lunch now?”

“No time, Mrs Hudson,” Holmes said.

“Yes, please,” I replied at the same time and rather louder.

Mrs Hudson brought the food up.  It was a little dried, but I wasn’t going to complain.  Holmes ignored the food, as I expected, but Lestrade, having sat down at the table opposite me, did justice to it.  The Ferret had disappeared as soon as we entered the rooms, but when I was eating my pudding, I felt a distinct tug on my trouser leg.  Accordingly, I dropped some of the roly poly beneath the table.

“What do you reckon, Mr Holmes?” Lestrade asked.  “Will they still go ahead tomorrow as planned?”

“I think they will,” Holmes replied.  “They won’t have time to bring their plans forward.  All that needs to be done is to convince them Captain Basil is no threat.  So, if you can arrange for it to be mentioned that Captain Basil was picked up for being drunk and disorderly that should work.”

“But what about the doctor?  What if he was recognised?”

“Fortunately, all three men had their backs to him, so none of them had a good look at him.  I think we’ll be safe there.  You could say that Basil’s associate was also inebriated to be sure.”

“Excellent,” Lestrade said, standing up.  “I shall go and make the arrangements.”

***

As Holmes had predicted, the gang did go to Bulstrode Warehouses the following evening, and Lestrade and various officers from Scotland Yard were able to apprehend them and retrieve a considerable amount of contraband.

The Police Commissioner sent his grateful thanks to Holmes and myself for all our assistance, noting especially how helpful it had been to know the best entry point to the warehouse from the road side.  We passed on the thanks to the Ferret, who wanted to know whether he would be awarded a medal.  His disappointment on learning he wasn’t was so great I fashioned one out of a bottle top and some ribbon and he wore it proudly for the rest of the day.


End file.
